Thuringia: Foreclosure of Hummelshain Castle in November

Steffen Seibel
Fri, 10/30/2020
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Germany, Thuringia, Hummelshain. Forced sale could not be averted. For years, solutions were sought for the endangered cultural monument. Among other things, a committed support association tried to help the destitute private owner of the New Hunting Lodge in Hummelshain (Saale-Holzland District, South-East Thuringia) and carry out renovations. Now a creditor has applied for the auction. The market value is 700.000 EUR.

When the former AlphaSat GmbH, under the management of its managing director Lutz Rothe, acquired Schloss und Park in Hummelshain in 1998 for DM 1 million from LEG (Thüringer Landesentwicklungsgesellschaft), no one could have imagined the impact this sale would have. It is a tricky story that is still not over even after more than 20 years.

Instead of conference centre: 1-room flat in the castle

Dr. Lutz Rothe is an engineer for radio technology. He lives alone in only a few rooms in the magnificent building that was to become a modern conference centre for his former AlphaSat GmbH many years ago. On weekends, he occasionally guided visitors through the castle. Many an interested person could not believe that at that time various criminal proceedings were being conducted against the owner of the castle, among other things for delaying insolvency. In the private guided tours he knew how to convey the knowledge and history of Hummelshain well, his appearance was always polite and eloquent. His company, however, became insolvent after the purchase of Hummelshain and left debts in the millions. Although he knew that the plans he had made were no longer feasible, he continued to communicate to the public the impending restoration of the castle and the promised subsidies. But instead of a castle renovation, the building was "secured" elsewhere and sold to a Swiss company in the background to protect it from creditor access.

First redevelopment measures thanks to support association

It is thanks to the unprecedented commitment of the Förderverein Schloss Hummelshain with its chairman Rainer Hohberg that a dialogue with the owner was successful. With the support of the Free State of Thuringia, the first securing work was carried out. A long-term solution for this important monument has not yet been found, however.

Estimated investment needs: more than 10 million euros

Even if the estimated market value of €700,000 seems low, the investment needs are enormous and are estimated at well over €10 million. The fact that the castle is now to be auctioned off so quickly also has a bitter aftertaste: the past has shown that real estate auctions of castles, palaces and manor houses repeatedly attract speculators and right-wing extremist groups. The forced auction of a manor in Kohren-Sahlis (district of Leipzig) in Saxony in 2016, for example, caused a scandal: when a journalist asked what was to become of the manor, the highest bidder replied: "A concentration camp". The association hopes for a capable investor and will do everything in its power to prevent Hummelshain Castle from falling into the wrong hands again on 5 November 2020.

Photo series Hummelshain 2015




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The Hummelshain Hunting Lodge, also known as the "New Castle", is a Historicist building with elements of Neo-Gothic and Neo-Renaissance. It was built in 1885 for Ernst I of Sachsen-Altenburg and is dominated by a mighty tower. At the end of the 1990s, the property was sold to a company, which, however, became insolvent after the purchase. This was followed by years of legal wrangling over, amongst other things, the purchase price not being paid in full, dubious business practices and nebulous resale, while the building fabric was increasingly damaged. In GDR times, Hummelshain was the site of a Jugendwerkhof. The architectural interior design, which is worth seeing, has been largely preserved. Hummelshain Castle is on the list of endangered buildings in Thuringia and is considered a cultural monument of national importance.

Place and Date

05 November 2020
Hummelshain hunting lodge auction
District court Jena
Rathenaustraße 13
07745 Jena, Germany
Tel.: +49 3641 3070

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Comments (1)

MG
Maja Gehm Guest #1
10/31/2020 23:36 | from Germany
Das wäre schade wenn es in die falschen Hände kommen würde..als Kinder waren wir öfter bei Schulausflügen dort.Meine Grosseltern haben gern die Storries vom Herzog Ernst erzählt, dessen Sommerresidenz das damals war.Da soll er nämlich einige seiner illegitimen Nachkommen gezeugt haben.Aber so schön wie heute sah das zu DDR Zeiten nie aus, da war es ein Jugendwerkhof.
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